Yet another Verizon 4G outage

For the second time this month, Verizon 4G LTE customers were struck with an outage that completely suspended their data service.

The service was crippled this morning, making it impossible for commuters to check their e-mail or read the news on their way to work.

Phones were not even able to connect to back-up 3G networks, leaving the only form of connectivity a terrible 2G connection.

This is the third service disruption for Verizon's still-nascent high-speed network, and the second one this month. The network also went down just a couple weeks ago. The first occurred several months ago when there was only one LTE-compatible Verizon phone on the market.

Verizon was late to the 4G game but was the first major carrier to roll out an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, allowing it to leapfrog ahead of slower 4G offerings from Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T.

Now, LTE appears to be the accepted standard for the next generation of mobile data as other carriers have begun scrapping their existing 4G infrastructures and building LTE networks.

By the time its competitors fully get up and running, though, Verizon will likely be well ahead. It plans to have 200 million people in its 4G LTE territories by the end of the year.